Team Building
by EJ Santry
Summary: Edward and Bella are off to a lodge for a weekend 'team building' retreat for their office. Flirting, knee brushing, and rock wall climbing lead to a real coming together of their team. AH. ExB. M. Lemon. Happy Birthday, LolaShoes!


A/N: This is a birthday o/s for the lovely LolaShoes based on a text I sent her that she said I HAD to make into a story. So, my darling, here it is. Happy Birthday!

Team Building

I was sitting at my desk, when my reminder popped up on my monitor informing me it was time for our weekly staff meeting. I stretched my arms up over my head, and then brought them down around me, pulling tight and stretching my back. Note to self: bring up new office chairs in the staff meeting. Sighing, I grabbed my notebook and coffee, and rolled myself from my desk. As I stepped from my office, I was brought up short to keep from colliding with a blur of brunette hair rushing past me.

"Good morning, Edward!" Bella called as she passed.

"Good morning, Bella," I said drawing out the words, watching the way her hips swayed in the pencil skirt that was hugging her curves as she walked down the hallway. I strode down the hallway after her, and heard a click of a door closing followed by a clap on the shoulder.

"Rumor has it, that she has dumped that douche bag boyfriend of hers," Jasper whispered to me and we walked towards the meeting room.

"By 'rumor', you mean Alice," I snorted.

"That I do, friend," he smiled.

"Why would she tell you that? She has fought all your other recon efforts for my benefit," I said doubtingly.

"Let's just say she was in a very honest place when I asked this time," he said with a wink, as we walked into the room. That statement was as good as a notarized affidavit. My friend's skills were legendary. The conversations I have overheard from his conquests made me wish I had a pussy a time or two.

We walked into the meeting room, and walked around to our usual seats. There were only 15 of us in our unit, so we have routine without saying anything. We were all seated making small talk as Carlisle came in apologizing for being late.

We jumped right into the usual business of going over current projects, updates on what each of us were working on, and received new assignments. As luck would have it, Bella and I were given a new web project to work on together. I was a graphic designer and Bella was a programmer. We had done web projects together in the past, and worked effortlessly together. I pushed my glasses up my nose, and smiled at her from across the table. She smiled back, and lowered her eyes shyly.

"And don't forget that the retreat is this weekend," Carlisle reminded us. "Angela will have your room assignments and schedules to you by Friday."

I totally forgot about the retreat! This weekend I would be away with Bella... and everyone else in the office. I glanced up at her to see her looking at me out of the corner of her eye. I nervously pushed my glasses up my nose, and went back to scribbling in my notebook.

The rest of the week flew by, as my anxiousness about the trip intensified. Bella and I had spent the last two years casually flirting with each other, but nothing more than that. She had been in a committed relationship since the day she started working here, and I danced in and out of casual flings. They were all weak substitutes for Bella, and now we were both free and headed to a secluded resort.

"We're here, man," Jasper said bringing me out of my reverie.

I looked up at the resort that was nestled within a state park. It was rustic, but calming. It was set up high on a hill, and I looked out at the expanse of nature all around us. It was October, and the leaves were just beginning to change. The large rolling hills of green trees were starting to ripple with yellows, oranges, and reds.

The resort itself wasn't very big, but it had several common areas that surrounded large fireplaces. Several banquet halls and boardrooms were scattered about the exterior walls, and two large arms stretched out from the main area that housed the rooms. Jasper and I checked in and found our way down the west corridor to locate our rooms. We glanced at our schedules and saw that the first agenda item for the weekend was a casual dinner in the resort's restaurant in an hour.

I spent the time unpacking, and taking a quick shower to relax after the long car ride. While standing in front of the mirror shaving, my mind wandered to Bella. I began thinking about the last time I saw her on Friday. I was sitting in her office as we went over the latest project we were working on. The website was for a new independent movie that was being heavily promoted in our area. Once we worked through the details of the design and features she would need to write, our conversation drifted to what movies we had seen recently. I watched as her eyes lit up and could hear her laughter in my ears still as she recalled her favorite moments of a comedy she had seen earlier that week. When she told a story she captivated me with her recollection and enthusiasm. I wanted a chance to share in that laughter every day.

I had just put on my white tank and slipped into a pair of khakis when there was a knock on my door. I walked to it pushing my still damp hair from my face, expecting it to be Jasper. I opened the door to find Bella standing at the threshold.

"Well, this is an unexpected surprise," I said continuing to tuck in my shirt and staring at her over the top of my glasses. She had on a simple plum colored wrap dress, and she had her hair down. It was all I could do to suppress the groan as I looked down and saw the knee high black boots that she was wearing.

"Alice just went in to get Jasper," she said nodding towards his room, "and they suggested that I come and get you."

"I'm glad they did," I said with a smile. "I'm almost ready, do you want to come in for a sec? I just need to grab my shirt."

"Um, sure…OK," she answered stepping in and past me.

"Make yourself comfortable, and I will be out in a second," I said grabbing my pale green polo shirt from the bed, and walking into the bathroom.

I slipped the shirt on straightening the collar before tucking it in. Giving myself one last look in the mirror, I took a deep breath and stepped out into the room.

"What time did you guys get in?" I asked grabbing a pair of socks, and my shoes before sitting down on the bed.

"About two hours ago," she answered. "You?"

"Just an hour ago," I replied as I laced up my shoes. "I think I am all set. Are you ready?"

"I am," she answered looking down at her dress, smoothing it almost nervously.

"Let's go," I said holding out my arm gesturing for her to walk first. I put my hand on the handle of the door, but before opening it, I took my first chance. "Bella, before I forget to tell you later, you look beautiful tonight."

With that I opened the door, and we stepped out into the hallway. Jasper and Alice emerged from his room at the same time, and we all made our way down to the restaurant together. Carlisle had reserved a large table in the back, and we all sat down together talking about our various trips here and the beautiful natural surroundings. Bella sat next to me at dinner and occasionally our hands or legs would brush causing our eyes to meet as we muttered apologies. Every brush equaled a longer look before we returned to the conversation at hand.

Before we left Angela went over the next day's schedule. The morning we would be in one of the conference rooms with the facilitator we had hired, and the afternoon we were scheduled time at the rock wall in the facility as our fun "trust building" activity. We soon broke up our dinner as the restaurant was closing for the evening. Alice and Bella walked with Jasper and I back towards our rooms. Theirs were in the same corridor but further down the hallway.

As we headed to our room a family headed for the pool came towards us. The four of us stepped to the side of the hallway to let them through. Bella ended up pushed up against me as one of the little boys tried to dash from his mother, and we cleared the path for her to catch him. She tensed at first when she came in contact with me, but then I felt her body relax into mine. Instinctually, my arm came up and snaked around her waist holding her to me. Her head leaned back against my chest and we both sighed at the way her slight frame molded into mine.

All too soon the family had passed by and we continued our walk to our rooms. Alice and Jasper continued on towards his room when we got to our two doors. Bella paused and turned towards me. There was hardly any space between us. I reached forward and brushed the back of my fingers along the inside of her left palm.

"Good night, Bella," I said softly. Her fingers ventured out and traced the length of my thumb.

"Good night, Edward, " she answered looking into my eyes. She gave me a soft smile and then walked away towards her room.

I stood there watching her walk away, flexing the hand that had just touched hers unconsciously at my side. When she reached her room she gave me one last glance and smile before stepping inside. I turned to my room then anxious for what tomorrow would bring.

After breakfast, we all wandered into the conference room. The coordinator had the tables pushed to the walls and the chairs in a circle in the middle. Just as I was about to roll my eyes I heard the sound of a quiet groan of displeasure behind me. I peaked over my shoulder to see Bella standing behind me giving a loathing glare at the circle of chairs, and then the coordinator herself. She looked up noticing that I was staring down at her and she covered her mouth in embarrassment. I just winked at her and walked to a chair.

People helped themselves to the coffee and water that was in the room and then soon everyone settled into a chair. I had my notebook open and was drawing along the margins of my open page, so I didn't notice that Bella had sat down next to me until she cleared her throat.

"Good morning, Edward," Bella said as she took a sip of her coffee, and then nodded towards my notebook. "That is beautiful. Is it an idea for a site?"

"No," I laughed a little looking down at my drawing. "It's just doodling."

"Well, your doodling is better than my best efforts," Bella said in her sweet self-deprecating instructor called us to attention then. She asked us to pair up with the person that we worked the most with in the office and turn our chairs so we were facing one another. I glanced over at Bella and she gave a slight nod before we turned our chairs to face on another. As we sat there waiting for everyone to get situated I went back to my doodling. I felt Bella's knee graze mine. I smiled to myself and kept my eyes on what I was doodling but then I felt it again. This time it was a slow side to side sweep that could only be deliberate.

I lift my eyes but not my head and glance at Bella over the top of my glasses. She is glancing around the room but her knee continues to brush mine. Two can play at that game. I go back to my drawing but stretch out the leg she is not brushing against mine and rake it deliberately on the inside of her right calf. I peek up to see her breath hitch a little and I laugh quietly to myself. She glances at me then and smirks.

"Okay everyone, now that you are paired up, I want you to take the next five minutes to write what it is you admire about the other person's skills they bring to your projects and then what more you think they might add," the instructor called out to us.

Bella and I sat there scribbling away, occasionally looking up at one another, before delving back into what we were writing. I loved watching her. I loved how she chewed on the end of her pen as she thought about how she wanted to word something or how, when she was really lost in thought about something, she would brush the back of her knuckles across her lips.

"Time, everyone!" The instructor called. "Time to share what you wrote with your partner."

"Ladies first," I indicated to Bella.

"Um, okay," she said looking down at her paper. "Well, I am a pretty linear thinker. I love how creatively your mind works. Not only with the way you create beautiful things but how you can find ways to look at problems that I would have never thought of."

"Thank you, Bella. My turn." I looked over the things I wrote, and those I didn't. "I love how assertive you are. When you know you are right you aren't afraid to fight for it but you do it in a way that has everyone agreeing with you and not shying from your assertion."

"I am always worried I come across bitchy," she said scrunching her nose.

"Not at all," I assured her. "Now, what can I improve upon, Ms. Swan?"

She got a glint in her eye then and she leaned in a bit towards me.

"I wish," she said slowly blinking at me and running her bottom lip through her teeth. "I wish you were more assertive when there is something you want."

Oh. My notepad is suddenly forgotten, as I switch to the mental list.

"I wish," I started the same as she did. "No, I hope we can remove all remaining barriers between us so we can come together, united, as a team."

"Okay, everyone, that is our time for this morning," the instructor cut in. "Have a good lunch, and enjoy your climbing this afternoon!"

That afternoon we all arrived outside to the area behind the pool that housed a volleyball court and a large rock-climbing wall. The instructor there to assist us started by asking if any of us had rock climbing experience. Jasper and I raised our hands. We had done most of the major parks in the greater northwest since moving to Seattle for college. Looking around I wasn't too surprised to see that half of the group had experience. There seemed to be a bit of an outdoor culture around here.

The instructor went through and paired us up matching inexperienced with experienced climbers. I silently saluted him when he paired me with Bella but my joy was erased when I looked over to see her looking a little pale.

"Are you okay, Bella?" I asked. She shook her head 'no', as she looked up at the top of the two story wall. I put my arm around her and leaned it towards her. "I won't let anything happen to you."

We watched as team after team climbed the three-sided structure raising their hands in victory as they reached the top. Once a group had made their climb they were free to go for the afternoon because we were all meeting up once again for dinner. Bella and I were slated to go last, so we watched as group after group finished and then left to relax or enjoy the facilities at the resort.

"We'll see ya'll at dinner," Jasper said as he and Alice removed their harnesses and heading back to the lodge.

We were the last set to step up to the rock-climbing wall as the sun started to dip below the tree line. I looked around to find we were the only ones left other than the instructor.

"I've got this, man, if you want to take off," I offer to the instructor. I ran through the climbs that Jasper and I had done.

"Then this is like the jungle gym on the playground for you, isn't it?" He said with a laugh.

"A little," I said smirking, and Bella rolled her eyes.

"Then I think I will call it a day," he said. "Thanks, man. Just lock the harnesses in that chest over there when you are done."

As he walked away Bella began to step into one of the harnesses.

"Why do all the corporate retreats include these clichéd activities?" Bella complained.

"It's so we can learn to open up and trust one another," I said pushing my glasses up my nose and stepping towards her. "Such as you trusting that I wasn't lying when I said I had done this before."

I winked as her mouth fell open. Our eyes remained locked on one another as I stepped right up to her so our bodies were flush but not touching. Her harness was hanging loosely from her body and I reached out for the straps. My hands glided over the ones at her hips allowing my right hand to continue along the rough nylon as it disappeared between her legs. She gasped as I applied pressure with the heel of my hand.

"Trust, Bella," I breathed into her ear while pulling the straps tight between her thighs eliciting a moan. "Trust me with your body."

She only nodded at me with a glazed look in her eyes.

"Now, have you ever climbed a rock wall before?" I asked.

"No," she swallowed hard, "never."

"Well, let's start at the beginning," I said, pulling on my own harness that would connect her to me and then taking her hand and walking over to the wall. "The best advice for a beginner is only move one foot or hand at a time. Three should always have purchase. Let's find you a good place to start."

I slid my hand up her arm guiding her hand up to a hold. Reaching down I wrapped my long fingers around her petite thigh and raised her leg until it resting on one of the hold about a foot off of the ground. I repeated the motion stroking the back of her arm with my hand as I guided her other hand to a hold above her head. It required me to lean into her a bit. She was breathing heavily and her knuckles were turning white from her grip on the holds.

"Are you okay, Bella?" I asked, my body just a hairs breadth away from her and my breath breezing across her collar bone that was visible where her tight fitting t-shirt had shifted.

"I want to do this," Bella said breathily leaning her body back into mine. I had a feeling we were no longer talking about the wall in front of us. My body took over and I reached out and gripped one of the holds above Bella's right hand with mine and wrapped my other arm around her body.

"I've been wanting to do this for two years, Bella," I said pushing her body flush with the rock wall and grinding myself into her ass. She moaned and threw her head back onto my shoulder. Her hair fell down her back and exposed the long silky column of her neck. I bent forward and gripped it between my lips sucking a gradual lingering pattern up to her ear as I loosened my harness. It went clattering to the ground.

"Take mine off, Edward," Bella panted. "Take this harness off, and then take me up to your room and take it all off."

She didn't have to tell me twice. I quickly loosened the straps and sent her harness falling to the ground with mine. Snatching them up I went over and locked them in the wooden storage box next to the wall. I strode back over to where Bella stood took her hand in mine, and we walked hurriedly back to the main building. I slid my key into the security slot that would allow us into the stairwell which would lead us more quickly up to my room. It would also, I hoped, bar us from running into anyone that may deter us.

We reached my room in no time. I had the key in the lock and was pulling Bella in behind me. My mouth was on hers before the door even clicked shut. There was nothing soft or romantic about our kiss. It was desperate and needy. Our hands clutched at bodies and hair, and our tongues dove and licked. I backed us towards the bed. Suddenly, a maelstrom of clothing flying from our bodies surrounded us: shirts, pants, her bra, our underwear.

Then there we stood both naked and panting locked in each other's gazes, and I was done waiting.

"Lay down," I told her not breaking our gaze. She remained transfixed as she sat down on the bed and began to scoot back towards the headboard, but there was something I needed to do first. I grabbed hold of one of her ankles and she froze with a wild look in her eyes. In quick succession, I grabbed the other, fell to my knees pulling her to the end of the bed. I flung her thighs over my shoulders and then wrapped my hands around her lower back practically lifting her body to my face as I dove in taking on big lick.

"Edward!" She cried out.

I smiled as I plunged back into her licking and flicking and sucking her. She panted and moaned my name. She cursed and writhed, and I was a god as I sent her careening into exploding pleasure. Before she could settle I snagged a condom from the box in my suitcase and sheathed myself.

I returned to wear Bella lay panting on the bed and slid one arm under her, pulling her up the length of the bed with me. I brought her head to rest on one of the pillows and stared down into her beautiful face. The orange and pink glow from the sunset was peaking in through the break in the curtains and cast her in a golden light.

"This time you will be looking right at me when you cum," I said to her. "Are you ready for me?"

"Oh God, yes," she said taking hold of my dick and placing me at her entrance as her eyes soften. "Kiss me, Edward."

Leaning forward, I placed a long slow kiss on her lips. Some of our desperation was gone but the need was still ever present. Just as I deepened the kiss, I thrust into her and we moaned into each other's mouths. I pulled back then holding myself up on my hands, arms locked, as I started sliding in and out of her. I could hear the smack of our skin against one another in between my growls and her cries. I paused to resituate myself on my knees and brought both of her legs up the length of my chest until her heels were resting on my shoulders. I grasped her hips and began fucking her soundly.

Her noises at this point were echoing off the wall in a give and take duet of my name and 'Oh God'. I stretched my long fingers across the expanse of her stomach and began working her clit once again, as I kept up my steady thrusts. This time I was looking down on this goddess as her world exploded and it's me doing it to her.

It was my turn to be sent into oblivion by her now spasming and squeezing muscles that were clenching my dick, urging me to join her. My body bursts from the seams as I cried out her name in thanks and pleasure and pulled myself balls deep into her. I shook and clenched as I continued slow thrust maintaining both of our highs until my muscles were shaking.

I looked down at her as she was trying to catch her breath, smiling, and it spilled over to an 'oh-my-god' laugh. I pulled out and tossed away the condom. She turned to her side still breathing heavily but was starting to calm down to a more regular pattern. I scooted up behind her and began to stroke and softly tickle her back.

"I think we accomplished this morning's goals," Bella laughed, and I laughed with her as I pulled her close to my body, wrapping my arms around her.

"I told you letting go of your barriers would be good for you and I," I said kissing her shoulder while lazily running my fingers up and down her stomach.

"Seriously, though," she said turning in my arms, so we were now lying face-to-face. She lifted up her hand and stroked my jaw line. "I have been fantasizing about this for a long time now and the fantasies paled in comparison. Everything just feels right with you, Edward. It's effortless."

"Is that a good thing?" I asked kissing her forehead and then her lips.

"A very good thing," she said smiling against my lips and I couldn't help but smile back. "I want the this again, and again, and again,..."


End file.
